The Difference Between Escaping into Nature and Belonging to Nature

It's been six years since we birthed Ecomaste.

People often romanticize what it's like to start a project like this. They imagine the freedom of being your own boss, creating your own schedule, and pouring your energy into something that deeply matters to you. And yes, that's certainly part of it.

What people don't often talk about is that you're also responsible for every setback, every wrong turn, every difficult season. The wins are yours, but so are the losses.

It's been one of the most humbling journeys of our lives.

Building Ecomaste has continuously asked Jose and me to step beyond our comfort zones. It has invited us to question our "why," to become deeply curious instead of defensive, and to meet our mistakes with compassion rather than judgment.

When things didn't work, we had to ask ourselves difficult questions.

Why isn't this working?

What patterns am I contributing?

Where am I giving my energy that no longer serves this vision?

Looking back now, I realize that one of my biggest motivations for creating this life was actually to escape.

I wanted to escape the pace I had been living.

The constant rushing.

The pressure to achieve.

The endless feeling that I should always be doing more.

If I'm honest, I was deeply discontent with the life I had built previously. The only place I ever felt at peace was in nature, although at the time I couldn't explain why. I would go into the forest, listen to the birds singing, sit on the quartz rocks in the mountains, and for a little while everything inside me would quiet down and I would be at peace.

But eventually I'd return to my chaotic rhythm, and that feeling would slowly disappear.

So I'd go searching again.

I thought nature was giving me peace.

What I didn't realize was that I was asking nature to temporarily rescue me from a life that wasn't aligned.

Fast forward six years, and both Ecomaste and we have grown in ways I never could have imagined.

The challenges we've faced have invited us to look honestly at where we place our attention—our thoughts, our words, our actions—and, step by step, sometimes moment by moment, reclaim our energy and become clearer about our intentions.

One of the biggest lessons I've learned is something we've all heard before:

You create your own reality.

It's easy to dismiss that as another cliché.

But when you're immersed in nature every single day, a remembrance emerges and becomes impossible to ignore.

Even though I was surrounded by extraordinary beauty, I still felt dissatisfied somehow like there was something missing. 

At first, I couldn't understand it and I felt guilty that this was what I was experiencing. 

I thought that if I had done what I used to do back home: escape into nature, find peace, everything would be okay.

It worked...

For a while.

Then I'd find myself searching again.

Living at Ecomaste has taught me,

Nature doesn't exist to help us escape ourselves. She invites us to meet ourselves.

The rhythm of life here is different. Costa Rica has a way of slowing everything down. And when life slows down, all the distractions begin to fall away. The things you've been avoiding quietly rise to the surface.

For me, I realized I had been chasing peace from the outside in.

I was searching for belonging somewhere "out there."

Then gradually something shifted.

Nature wasn't showing me somewhere I belonged.

She was reminding me that I already belong.

I am nature. I am of the Earth. I am of Spirit.

That realization changed everything.

Belonging stopped depending on where I was.

It became a devotional practice I feed daily.

That understanding slowly shaped the way we live at Ecomaste. We began creating a pace of life that feels regenerative rather than extractive. We no longer measure our days by how productive we are or how much we can squeeze into them. We don't want to run on borrowed time, fueled by stimulants and dopamine hits only to crash later.

Instead, we intentionally nourish ourselves so that nourishment naturally extends into everything we create.

Looking back on this year, I can see how that intention rippled through our community.

We were blessed to welcome an incredible Core Team who embodied this way of living.

Lisa, Julia and Elyse—thank you.

Your love, care and dedication helped shape one of the most nourishing seasons Ecomaste has experienced. From hospitality and herbalism to kitchen management, permaculture projects, free-form writing sessions, medicine making, spontaneous dance parties and countless shared meals, we co-created something truly beautiful together.

We're also deeply grateful for Frowin, who first joined us as a Bamboo Building intern and gradually stepped into permaculture, eventually becoming another valued member of our Core team. There are also a few special beings that graced us with their loving presence and support.

These experiences reminded me that regeneration doesn't happen alone.

It happens in relationship.

It happens in community.

It happens when each person brings their gifts forward in service of something greater than themselves.

Perhaps that's why, after six years of tending these roots, Jose and I both felt it was time to expand. We decided to take a pilgrimage through Europe to reconnect with my ancestral roots—not simply to visit beautiful places, but to listen.

To listen to the land.

To the elements.

To the stories carried through generations.

To Great Spirit.

One of the biggest surprises has been discovering such a profound sense of belonging while walking through places that are, in many ways, completely foreign to me.

Yes, my ancestors came from these lands.

But culturally, practically—even according to my passport—I am still a visitor.

Yet I don't feel disconnected.

Because belonging is no longer something I expect a place to give me.

It's something I choose to cultivate every morning.

I wake up and remember my relationship with myself.

With Nature.

With Spirit.

That companionship isn't dependent on geography anymore.

It lives within me.

I'm endlessly grateful to the forests, rivers, mountains and gardens that have held me through this journey. I'm equally grateful for the practices that have helped reveal this truth—Hridaya Meditation, Qi Gong, herbalism, mindful movement and the countless teachers, both human and more-than-human, who have guided me.

They've helped shift my perspective from me to we.

That shift has become the heartbeat of Ecomaste.

We've never wanted to create a place where people simply come to escape their lives.

We've wanted to create a place where people remember who they are.

A place where they can experience a regenerative way of living, reconnect with the Earth, serve something larger than themselves, and discover the potent medicine of community.

Whether someone joins us for a Herbalism or Natural Building Immersion, a retreat, an apprenticeship, as a Core Team member or simply a few days of rest, our hope is always the same.

That they leave remembering they don't need to escape.

They can turn toward themselves.

Held by the Earth.

Held by community.

Held by something infinitely greater than themselves.

And perhaps, in doing so, remember that they were never separate to begin with.

They were home all along.

Have you been using nature as a place to escape, or has she been quietly inviting you home?

Written by: Amanda Luna

Amanda is the co-founder of Ecomaste, a passionate herbalist, and a Holistic Wellbeing Guide. She intertwines her love for the natural world through various forms of herbalism, mindfulness, and movement medicine like qi-gong, yoga, dance, and art. With a mission to support love, harmony, and wholeness for people, beings, and lands, Amanda strives to rebuild regenerative relationships with the Earth and guide others towards balance and holistic wellness through her compassionate and intuitive approach.

Click below to learn more about Amanda Luna & her ongoing & upcoming offerings: Aluna Living